This invention relates to a wheel and tire assembly and more particularly to a pneumatic wheel and tire assembly capable of virtually unlimited widths without the requirement of the integrated bead.
The pneumatic tire commonly in use today as seen on automobiles, trucks, bicycles and other vehicles is mounted on a rim. A bead, usually of metal, is encapsulated within the rubber or similar material along the exposed edge to make contact with the metal rim, with or without a tube. The bead is required to insure among other things that the tire remains on the rim during service, which sometimes can be rough. In addition, the tire usually incorporates layers of material, which can be rayon, a metal mesh, or other type of fabric to provide for adequate support for the rubber or other material making up the tire and to prevent tearing, ripping or shredding during usage. Furthermore, all of the preceding must be accomplished with a high degree of precision and with close tolerances to provide proper sealing.
The necessity to meet such construction requirements makes the ordinary tire a complex and expensive product to manufacture and consequently tires tend to be very expensive in the marketplace. In addition, these same requirements impose practical limitations on the size and load capacity of tires made according to the presently common tire design as described above. In certain situations, as for example, for loads of in the order of a million pounds or more, rather than increase the diameter to unmanageable proportions, the width of the tire can be increased to accomodate such a load. Under these conditions, the manufacture of such tires using technology now available render the cost and complexity prohibitive.
A variety of tire and wheel assembly designs are shown in U.S. Pats. Nos. 1,903,575, 1,966,397, 2,113,031, 2,435,186, 2,628,652, 3,645,315, and 4,732,198. None of the preceding patents shows or suggests the present invention.